Contact Information
University of Illinois
2015 MRL
104 S Goodwin Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801
Research Areas
Biography
Professor Braun received his B.S. degree with distinction from Cornell University, and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois.
Following a postdoctoral appointment at Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, Prof. Braun joined the faculty of the University of Illinois in 1999. Prof. Braun has co-authored a book, about 350 peer-reviewed publications, been awarded multiple patents, and has co-founded four companies. He is the recipient of the Illinois MatSE Young Alumnus Award (2011), the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2010), the Stanley H. Pierce Faculty Award (2010), the 2002 Robert Lansing Hardy Award from TMS, a Beckman Young Investigator Award (2001), a 3M Nontenured Faculty Award (2001), the Xerox Award for Faculty Research (2004, 2009), and multiple teaching awards. In 2006, he was named a University Scholar by the University of Illinois, in 2011 was named the Ivan Racheff Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and in 2020 was named a Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering. Prof. Braun has served on the editorial advisory boards of multiple journals. He was a member of the 2010-2011 DARPA Defense Science Study Group, and the 2015-2017 National Academies Technical Advisory Board for the US Army Research Laboratory. In 2018 Prof. Braun was elected a Fellow of the Materials Research Society, 2020 a Fellow of AAAS and 2022 a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.
Research Interests
Electrochemical energy storage; polymers; self-assembly; electronic materials; photonics
Research Description
The Braun group synthesizes and studies materials with unique optical, electrochemical, thermal, mechanical, and transport properties, properties that often emerge from the carefully crafted 3D nano- and mesoscale architectures of these materials. Recent priority research areas include materials for electrochemical energy storage, advanced optics, chemical sensing and the control of the transport of heat and matter, and self-healing and responsive materials.
Awards and Honors
2023-24 Grainger Award for Excellence in Translational Research, University of Illinois
2022 Elected Fellow, National Academy of Inventors (NAI)
2020 Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2020 Awarded Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering, University of Illinois
2018 Elected Fellow of the Materials Research Society
2017 Visiting Lecturer Award of the Chemistry Promotion Center, Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan
2011 Awarded Ivan Racheff Professorship, University of Illinois
2011 Young Alumnus Award, University of Illinois Department of Materials Science and Engineering Alumni Board
Additional Campus Affiliations
W. W. Grainger Chair, Materials Science and Engineering
Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Director, Materials Research Lab
Professor, Mechanical Science and Engineering
Professor, Chemistry
Affiliate, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Part-time Faculty, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
Recent Publications
Chen, C., Mei, B., Zhou, J., Schweizer, K. S., Evans, C. M., & Braun, P. V. (2024). Coupling of Ethylene-Oxide-Based Polymeric Network Structure and Counterion Chemistry to Ionic Conductivity and Ion Selectivity. Macromolecules, 57(14), 6779-6788. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.4c00539
Chen, Y., Xue, T., Chen, C., Jang, S., Braun, P. V., Cheng, J., & Evans, C. M. (Accepted/In press). Helical peptide structure improves conductivity and stability of solid electrolytes. Nature Materials. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-024-01966-1
Cheng, Z., Huang, Y.-J., Zahiri, B., Kwon, P., Braun, P. V., & Cahill, D. G. (2024). Ionic Peltier effect in Li-ion electrolytes. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 26(8), 6708-6716. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3CP05998G
Fritz, N. J., Jeong, H., Zahiri, B., Sun, P., Singhal, G., Caple, M. A., Yang, Z., Ma, J., Choi, M., Obong, A. A., Blake, A. J., Cook, J. B., Miljkovic, N., Cahill, D. G., & Braun, P. V. (2024). Composition-Nanoarchitecture-Performance Analysis of High Energy Density Electrodeposited Silicon for Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes. ACS Applied Energy Materials, 7(14), 5957-5966. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.4c00941
Ji, X., Fritz, N. J., Jeong, H., Lu, P., Lin, J. W., Braun, P. V., & Cahill, D. G. (2024). Lithium trapping, hydrogen content, and solid electrolyte interphase growth in electrodeposited silicon anodes by ion beam analysis. Journal of Power Sources, 614, Article 235039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2024.235039